


Cruising for a Bruising

by Willa Shakespeare (AnonEhouse)



Category: Blake's 7
Genre: Bonding, M/M, Off World Customs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-12
Updated: 2013-05-12
Packaged: 2017-12-11 16:50:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/800943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonEhouse/pseuds/Willa%20Shakespeare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blake goes undercover as a bonded couple with Vila because he knows Vila won't take it seriously. Not like Jenna or Avon would have.</p><p>That... was a mistake.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cruising for a Bruising

(If you are reading this on any PAY site this is a STOLEN WORK, the author has NOT Given Permission for it to be here. If you're paying to read it, you're being cheated too because you can read it on Archiveofourown for FREE.)

"You're joking, of course," Vila said when Blake tossed the Ascellan marriage bangles at him. Vila had grinned when Blake offered him an 'all-expenses paid' ocean _holiday_ on one of the famed Love Boats of Ascella Five. He wasn't grinning now.

"Unfortunately, not." Blake clamped the matching bangles on his own arm. "This cruise is for pair-bonds only. It'll take time to find the undercover rebel in the ship's crew and warn him he's been identified. I can't search and hide at the same time. That's why Orac put us on the passenger manifest and got us an inconspicuous cabin. Among the thousands of bond-mates, no one will realize we hadn't been on board from the beginning."

"Why not ask Jenna?"

Blake looked at Vila. 

"Yeah, right. You don't want to hurt her feelings by play-acting at what she wants. How about Avon?" Vila grinned but the grin faded as he saw Blake's expression. "What?"

Blake sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "No."

"Bloody hell. You don't mean _he's_ after you, too?" Vila's grin widened.

Blake laid his hand on Vila's shoulder. "Don't tease him about it, Vila. Just... don't."

Avon entered the teleport, winced at Vila's idea of holiday cruise attire and slid into place behind the teleport console. "Cally says she's willing to go on this mission, Blake."

Blake shook his head. "She's not fully recovered from Travis' interrogation."

"She says she is," Avon remarked while setting up coordinates. "I told her you wouldn't listen." Avon looked at Vila, then at Blake, and shook his head. "Good luck. I have a feeling you'll be needing it."

***

"Avon! Teleport! Teleport!" Vila sounded frantic.

Avon slammed down the controls, and Vila appeared, teleport bracelet at his lips. His finery was dirty and torn, and there was a smear of blood on his face. Avon's lips peeled back from his teeth as he worked the controls again. Blake was conspicuous by his absence. "What happened? How did you lose Blake?"

"I didn't! It wasn't my fault." Vila swiped at his face and looked shocked. "I'm bleeding!"

"You'll be doing more of it if you don't explain what happened." Avon locked in the coordinates, and went to the comm. "Vila's lost Blake. I'm going after him." Avon ignored the protests coming from the comm., strapped on the gun he had lying on the teleport console and put on a teleport bracelet. 

"You can't bring a gun with you!"

"Watch me. Now, where is Blake?"

"I don't know! They separated us, and they made me confess that we weren't bonded!"

"That must have been difficult. Making you confess, I mean. Why did they suspect you?"

Vila looked shamefaced. "There was this blonde... legs up to here... I didn't _do_ anything!"

Avon sighed. "Except make it obvious you weren't on a honeymoon cruise with your Beloved Leader. How did you get away?"

Vila squirmed visibly. "Well... Blake said he'd made me go along with him, and they said he could take the punishment for both of us then." Vila gulped and looked sick. "They were distracted, and I ran out of the room, and the first quiet place I found I called you."

Avon clamped an extra teleport bracelet on his arm. "They'd already started the punishment?"

"Yes! Avon, they..." Vila's voice trailed off at the look on Avon's face. "I don't think he'll be able to walk."

"Then I'll carry him!" Avon got into position on the platform and nodded. "Teleport now, Vila."

Vila obeyed just as Jenna and Cally ran in the room, closely followed by Gan. "Avon!" Jenna shouted, "No, you idiot! We could threaten the cruise ship with Liberator!"

Cally caught at Jenna's arm. "But if we do, we'll give away what Blake was trying to hide."

"And you think Avon teleporting on board with a Liberator handgun won't?" Jenna shook her head. "I'm going to the flight deck."

"Give Avon some time," Cally said.

"All right. It's against my better judgment, but I'll give him half an hour. You'd better be right, Cally."

***

Avon appeared in the middle of a group of armed crewmen. Among them he recognized the man Blake was to meet. "Wonderful," Avon said as they disarmed him, took the teleport bracelets, and hustled him down a corridor. The undercover rebel met Avon's eyes once and nodded, then looked away as if ashamed. Avon could see there would be no help from that quarter. At least Blake would be able to die happy; unlike Blake the man obviously had self-preservation instincts.

So did Avon, which stood him in good stead as he was shoved into a room and forced to his knees. Blake lay curled up on the floor in front of him, unconscious, naked, bleeding, and showing clear signs of sexual abuse. Avon looked up at the big man standing over Blake, zipping up his trousers and _didn't_ lunge for his throat.

"Another one? We'll find the third man soon enough." The man looked at Avon's arms. "Was he passing as bonded, too?"

"No, he wore a bracelet, but not a bonding one. But he did have a gun." One of the men displayed Avon's weapon.

The big man barely glanced at it. "How did you think you'd get away with it? We're in mid-ocean."

"Sometimes I have fits of optimism," Avon said dryly. Blake gave a racking cough, and Avon's eyes were drawn to him. "It's contagious."

"Since you weren't passing as bonded, we'll just shoot you." The big man was apparently the spokesman for the group.

Avon didn't react outwardly to the death sentence. It was what he deserved for his stupidity. "And what will you do to him?" Avon said, nodding towards Blake.

"After everyone he insulted with his farce has had a turn, we'll shoot him, too. We don't allow offworlders to mock our ways."

Avon sifted through various plans of escape. There didn't seem to be much he could do from his end. Jenna and Cally would be coming for them, if given enough time, and no doubt they'd be more sensible about it than he'd been. He needed something to delay matters without rousing suspicions. Well, any more than they already were. "Am I permitted a last request?"

"Maybe. If it's something within reason."

"I'd like some time alone with my friend."

The man looked around the cabin. Apart from the adjoining wash cubicle, there was no exit from the room other than the door they'd entered. "All right. We'll be outside the door, so don't get any ideas."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Avon said softly as the door slid shut behind the last of them. It only took a few seconds to inspect the room looking for escape potential. There wasn't much. Suicide was a possibility, but Avon didn't see any point in saving them the trouble of killing him. 

Maybe Blake would have a plan. It seemed unlikely, but then, why should Blake sleep through his execution, when Avon was going to have to witness it? He fetched a washcloth and bathed Blake's face until Blake woke and stared at him, dazed.

"Another one I owe you?" Blake whispered, attempting a smile.

"I doubt it." Avon began wiping Blake's neck. "I was very nearly as big an idiot as you are. Vila's back on Liberator."

"Good." Blake closed his eyes a moment and then put up a hand to catch Avon's hand with the washcloth. "Leave it."

"Why?"

"We need to talk."

"I can talk and wash at the same time." But Avon put down the washcloth and helped Blake into a seated position. He looked away from Blake's wince of pain, and stared at the print screwed into the wall. It was some sort of floral abstraction. Garish. But then, this was obviously one of the cheapest cabins.

"I'm sorry I got you into this."

"No one threw me into the teleport."

Blake sighed. "You were right."

Avon looked at Blake, startled. "Well, now, I'm glad I lived long enough to hear that. About what in particular?"

"I should have brought you instead of Vila."

Avon smiled. "Yes. I'm a better actor."

Blake shook his head. "Worse."

Avon frowned and looked back at the abstract flowers. "You must be delirious. You're not making any sense."

"Yes, I am. Avon, look at me."

Reluctantly, Avon obeyed. Blake brought his hand up and touched Avon's face. "I know why you've stayed with me."

"Correction: with the Liberator."

Blake smiled. "With me, Avon."

Avon went silent for a long moment before finally saying, "What does it matter now? What did it ever matter?"

"It matters to me." Blake drew Avon close and kissed him. Avon gasped and leaned into the kiss for a second, before jerking back.

"Too late, Blake. For both of us."

"I mean it, Avon. I'm not just.."

Avon looked at Blake. "I know you mean it. But what good does it do now?"

"I don't want to die with a lie between us." Blake touched Avon's face again.

"We may yet be rescued. You may regret this confession."

"No. It was a mistake to deny it." Blake put his arms around Avon and signed. "I'm sorry I can't..."

"I'm sorry, too. Come on, there's no need to be more uncomfortable than we must. There's a perfectly good bed in here." Avon helped Blake to the small bed, and then went for another washcloth. "Let me."

Blake looked into Avon's eyes for a long moment, then nodded and rolled onto his belly. Avon washed him slowly and carefully, pausing whenever Blake's back muscles tensed. He leaned close over Blake to whisper, "I never said it. I still can't. But that doesn’t mean it's not true."

Blake turned his head to meet Avon's gaze. He said softly, "I've known it since the London."

Avon kissed Blake. The door to the cabin opened, and the men who were going to kill them entered. Avon broke away from Blake, standing between him and the big Ascellan. He crouched slightly, prepared to put up a fight before going down.

The big man asked Avon, "What the hell was he doing with the other man if he's bonded to you?"

Avon blinked and tried to think of some way to turn this misunderstanding to their advantage.

Blake rolled up onto one elbow and coughed. "I was a fool. I... wanted to make him jealous." He looked at Avon. "Vila doesn't mean anything to me."

"I know that." Avon couldn't resist smiling at Blake.

"You should have said something!" The big man was sweating with nervousness. "We would have never touched you if we'd known."

Blake shook his head. "Where I come from, it would have been better to die than to admit I loved Avon."

"Huh. Off-worlders." The big man suddenly looked suspicious. He turned to one of the other Ascellans. "Kop, fetch a pair of marriage bonds and a verifier."

Avon looked at Blake and raised an eyebrow. Blake shook his head minutely. Avon sighed internally. Naturally, Blake hadn't investigated the situation thoroughly before getting into it. Wonderful.

Kop returned with a pair of bonding bangles and a small metal box. Avon was suspicious, but with half a dozen guns pointing at him and Blake he didn't resist as the bracelets were clamped onto his and Blake's wrists. Kop extended two thin rods from the box, touching a bracelet with each rod. The bangles glowed bright blue.

Kop turned back to the big man. "True Blue." Kop looked worried. "What shall we do, Captain?"

"I'll handle this." The big man squared his shoulders and faced Blake and Avon. "I take full responsibility for this, bondlings. You may press charges against me, or accept restitution."

Avon didn't have to pause to think about it. Pressing charges would no doubt require their presence in an Ascellan court. Also, at any moment, Jenna or Cally might appear and throw everything back into confusion again. "Restitution." Avon glanced at Blake, who nodded.

The captain looked relieved. "I will send the ship's doctor at once, and see that a top-level suite is prepared for you for the remainder of the cruise. We'll discuss the details of the restitution later."

"We want our bracelets back," Blake said. "The other ones."

"Oh, yes." The captain turned a glare onto Kop. "Off-world bonding bracelets, off course. Hand them over, Kop."

The cabin door closed behind the Ascellans while Avon was still checking his bracelet for signs of tampering, finding none, he hit the comm. button. "Liberator."

Cally's voice came back immediately. "Avon! What is the situation?"

"It's all right, now." Avon smiled at Blake. "I've got Blake."

Jenna's voice came on the line. "We'll teleport you up right away."

Blake joined the conversation. "No, don't! Avon and I are staying here until the end of the cruise."

"That's three weeks," Jenna said, sounding startled. 

"It's to avoid suspicion," Avon said. "We... settled the problem, but now we're too conspicuous to vanish."

Blake cleared his throat. "And besides, Avon and I... well, it's the first chance we've had for a honeymoon."

Avon stared at Blake, totally astonished that Blake would admit it to the others.

There was dead silence over the comm. for a long moment, finally broken by Vila's wail of protest, "They get three weeks holiday! What about me!"

Avon grinned and cut the connection. He went over to Blake and knelt beside the bed. "There had better be a bigger bed in the suite."

Blake smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> I used my Pornocopia prompt generator for this fic and got: Strapping-full body beating/ Undercover-pretend to be married-bonded/ Cleaning wounded-raped/ Twin [I didn't manage to fit twin in threre.])
> 
> It's a pity the Pornocopia is no longer on line. It was a great simple Javascript toy and very useful when you wanted a little smutty fic inspiration. I still have a copy that I can run off-line for myself.


End file.
